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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Terrorism in Israel: The Unheard Stories

Just because buses aren't being blown up on the daily in Jerusalem does not mean that Palestinian terrorists have stopped their disgusting killing sprees in Israel. CNN and The Associated Press frequently point out that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not as violent as it was just 5 years ago, but I beg to differ. In March 2011, two masked Palestinian terrorists snuck into Rabbi Udi Fogel's home in the Itamar settlement of Israel's West Bank. While Udi and his three-month-old baby Hadas lay asleep in bed, the terrorists slit their throats. When Udi's wife Ruth came out of the bathroom, she too was murdered. Next, these cowardly Palestinian terrorists went into the shared bedroom of Yoav (age 11) and Elad (age 4) and stabbed both directly in the heart as they slept. Perhaps the most effected victim was 12-year old daugther Tamar, who returned home from a youth-movement activity two hours after the crime took place to discover her parent's and sibling's bloodied bodies. We don't hear about disgusting crimes like this in America. The only things we hear about are bombings in the major cities. There are still men lurking in the dark, killing families as they sleep, and setting the peace process back years. Slashing open necks and piercing hearts, on purpose, over many minutes, is more sinister and deranged, more direct and personal, than shooting from afar or even self-detonating. The Israeli government is genuinely working hard on peace negotiations with Palestine, but Israel cannot be expected to talk peace when its citizens are under threat of terror attacks such as this.

5 comments:

This remains an extremely sensitive topic. Nobody supports the sort of thugs that believe an act like this is a good thing, but that doesn't change the fact that both Israelis and Palestinians have been abused through this conflict. Letting despicable acts like this justify escalation will only lead to more killings on both sides.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will likely last for many many years, and will probably never be solved. I am fairly certain that they will never come to any sort of agreement that will satisfy both sides. The hatred is reciprocal. The Israelis have military while the Palestinians have guerrilla warriors and they will clash. There is still violence. I saw a documentary on the conflict a few years ago and it showed the perspectives of both sides. I can confidently say that both sides have done wrong. The important thing for each side to do now is tone down the violence, and learn to at least tolerate one another

The juxtaposition of life and death in the youtube video is very impactful. These are not soldiers in war that are dying, these are civilians that choose not to engage in conflict but remain subjects to terrorist-like repercussions. The Israelin-Palestinian conflict is something I do not understand. Their ability to sustain so much violence in the wake of political affairs blows my mind away.

The conflict between Palestine and Israel has made it onto national news fairly often over the years as violence in the area ebbs and recedes. Because not every single incident can be newsworthy in America, we often think that the conflict is over but Israeli newspapers often paint a different picture. Having worked in the library, which hordes international newspapers on a daily basis, it is always interesting to see how the major headlines differ around the world. The same gruesome events that appear on the front page of The Jerusalem Post differs from that of The New York Times. Nevertheless, the violence in that region still is important but it seems that a middleground will never be reached.